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Episode 116
Episode begins with the Arsonists having just left the throne room and looking up at the path before them - a bunch of tendrils of webs leading up to, presumably, Bahamut. * Lucius says they should wait until the convergence begins but no one actually knows when they'll know. * Godfrey reminds Lucius about fulfilling the first half of his demon bargain, to which Vahlka and Olivia vehemently disagree. Barkley is somewhat supportive, saying that whatever Lucius chooses is his decision alone but that it can't be done from a place of fear. Lucius is conflicted, torn between two sides of the party, reasoning that he'll put one of the stones in the throne room and then take the second directly to Bahamut so that it can be destroyed. The argument only ends with Vahlka asking Lucius if he has faith in Bahamut, to which Lucius answers that he does. Lucius is finally compelled to leave both stones behind on the balcony, forgetting them. * The party sees things flying overhead, but nothing directly near Bahamut. Vahlka is reminded that it's likely to have begun in Lolth's dwelling somewhere. * Barkley pulls out the idol of the Shadowfell, asking whatever mysterious entity on the other end if the convergence has started. They answer yes. Barkley asks if they were invited to the convergence, they answer no. Barkley asks if they somehow meet that if they can be friends and the entity says sure. * The party FINALLY begin to ascend towards Bahamut on the web bridge. The atmosphere is tense and somewhere above them, the webbing moves slightly but nothing becomes of it. They come to the apex and Bahamut is attached to a massive web stalk from the ceiling of the dome. No one sees anything in the immediate area. * True to their name, the Arsonists make quick work of the very flammable webs using whatever firepower they have available. It still takes some time to cut down, however. * Strands begin to come apart, lurching, then snap. The entire strand breaks. Up close, it's clear that Bahamut is severely emaciated and weakened, but still powerful. The party is forced to grab on where-ever they can as they descend and while Lucius is able to cast Feather Fall, the impact is still felt enough that everyone is rattled off the great dragon's back. * A shimmering, blue dome begins to appear overhead just as a shrieking noise sounds over the valley. "No! Meddling, insignificant insects! Kill them, reclaim the dragon, shatter this barrier and bring me their skulls! Do not lose my prize!" Lolth screeches. * Within everyone's heads, a more familiar, softer voice is heard. "I will need a moment to regain my strength. Protect me and I will fly us out of here," Bahamut says. Round One * Something dark collides with the barrier but no one can see what it is. More shapes surround the outside of the dome, threateningly. Everyone prepares for the fight of their lives, gaining Bahamut's weakened aura. * Demon forces force through the cracks in the barrier - including but not limited to minotaurs, black pudding, hyenas, their gnoll riders, and yochlol. * The fight begins! Barkley and Vahlka are on the front lines in melee, making quick work of the minotaurs. Godfrey is a walking eldritch blast machine gun. * Another large impact comes into contact with the barrier, which cracks. More enemies flood through after a large weapon attempts to break it, sending more slime to drop down and surround the party. * Barkley casts Spirit Guardians, also known as the best spell. It tears through a hyena like no one's business. * As the fight wages on to mostly success on the party's end, suddenly a fist breaks through the barrier followed by raucous laughter. A figure descends to land among them - a demon prince: Yeenoghu, the Beast of Butchery. * Yeenoghu proceeds to absolutely fuck up Barkley, knocking her away. He turns on Vahlka, succeeding at knocking her back as well. * Another large impact affects the barrier but doesn't break through yet. It is, however, compromised enough for two new (unknown?) centaur-like demons to come through. * The centaur demons lightning lance Vahlka, Barkley, and Godfrey for a bunch of damage. * MORE BOYS ARRIVE. The powerful impact sounds on the edge of the barrier, where a massive shape bursts through, and I quote, "like the Kool-Aid man". It's Baphomet! * As everyone slowly gets surrounded, Godfrey scatters the party - separating them into a couple groups. Yeenoghu and Baphomet converge on the half that were placed around Bahamut's head. Deacon has to worry about healing. Vahlka has to lay on hands for everything she has out of desperation. * There is something ominously dripping off the top of the dome... I wonder who that is! * Godfrey and Lucius hide behind the shadow of the butt of Bahamut. Vahlka and Barkley face two demon lords fearlessly, but they look pretty bad health-wise. * Thankfully due to some poor rolls on the enemy's part, Vahlka and Barkley are still standing. A hyena almost kills Vahlka. Deacon comes in clutch with a heal to Vahlka. Baphomet continues to miss. * More slime continues to drip down. * Barkley, in a righteous gnome fury, strikes with her offhand dagger at Yeenoghu after missing with Anxucotl. Yeenoghu isn't expecting the mundane dagger to appear so drives his face into it through his eye. The demon lord is henceforth destroyed, crumbling onto the ground into a rancid heap. Barkley retrieves her dagger and unleashes a scream of primal rage. * Godfrey travels down Bahamut's haunches, the centaur demons in hot pursuit. Vahlka takes some perilous hits from Baphomet. Deacon and Olivia gets assaulted by a slime. * The black ooze suddenly hangs from the ceiling, then drops onto Bahamut. IT'S THE SLIMY BOY HIMSELF, JUIBLEX! Lucius stares on in horror. * Lucius, sensing that he's in mortal danger of being consumed by the terrifying slime lord before him, tries to get the hell out of dodge. Instead of just saving himself, Lucius dashes forward and tackles Deacon who's in his way, sliding down the neck of Bahamut back onto the ground. He passes over a healing potion to Deacon, assuming that he knows to give it to the dragon when possible. * Olivia once again gets harassed by slime. Deacon heals Bahamut for a negligible amount of health, but it helps enough so as not to end up having another round. * Juiblex jiggles ominously and tries to cast a spell at Olivia. Lucius counterspells which gets the demon lord's attention, of which he only gets a rude gesture from the half-dragon. * The demon centaur sees what's about to happen as the round is up and flees. This is a wise choice. * Meanwhile, the rest of the demon forces coalesce upon the quickly eroding barrier. Hands, claws, stingers, and other appendages extend through and reach towards the heroes through the cracks. It is a never-ending tide, quickly replacing the enemies fallen before. A voice cuts through everyone's heads, saying, "Cover your heads, heroes, it's time I ended this." * A gust of wind is summoned from the point of Bahamut's descent, shattering the shield at once and sending up demons in its wake. Juiblex goes flying off the dragon's back, scattering off into the distance. The shadows of Orcus and Tanith who linger among the battlefield disappear into thin air. * Bahamut stands on his hind legs in the midst of the Court of Stars, glowing like a light in the Abyss. His scales have transformed from grey to a opalescent, prismatic white. Light shimmers back into his wings, connecting each digit. * Lolth descends onto Bahamut, although she's too slow to do anything. The Platinum dragon wrenches up, throwing her off into the distance and landing elsewhere out of sight. * The demons swarm. Bahamut kicks Baphomet, then proceeds to summon his breath weapon that disintegrates the oncoming hoard and surrounding landscape. Another wave of demons are met with a similar fate as he aims the beam closer. * "The only way out of the Abyss is up," Bahamut says as he leans his head close for the party to latch onto. They ascend, taking off at incredible speeds. Round Two * Pazuzu appears, that poor bastard, who has no idea what he's in for. The aerial demons are in pursuit of Bahamut and making some gain despite the dragon's speed and size. * Bahamut arcs, meeting Pazuzu mid-air. The demon prince raises a weapon against the dragon, but is caught by the jaws of Bahamut in the midsection with a sickening crunch before being thrown back onto the ground. * As they begin to climb into the sky, Bahamut reminds them that they aren't completely free yet. The party will have to avoid falling and keep the aerial forces at bay that get past his wings, as he can't fight them effectively. However, everyone gets his improved aura to help with the ensuing fight. The new mechanic introduced is that everyone who doesn't have a flying speed needs to make their full movement or be thrown back in the opposite direction Bahamut is flying. * The first wave of enemies appear consisting of drow inquisitors on giant bats, vrocks, and a succubus. * Once again, the party makes quick work of the weaker flying enemies. The death lance inquisitors, however, wreck Barkley's shit. * Bahamut ends up making Godfrey way too powerful with the eldritch blast aura crits. * The rest of the swarm arrives, bringing with it more drow, succubi, and chasme (MANSQUITOS). * The mansquitos unleash a droning onslaught but, fortunately for the party, really suck at trying to hit anyone. The inquisitors shank Olivia. Olivia also falls unconscious, but is woken up from Godfrey aiming a weak eldritch blast at her. * Bahamut suddenly turns, shifting the air flow around him to press down vertically. * Lucius casts Dimension Door on Vahlka, who is threatening to fall off Bahamut next round. Olivia gets stabbed by a mansquito and nearly goes down by an inquisitor, except the dice gods are merciful. A bat almost kills Olivia, though. Succubus thots harass Deacon. Olivia casts Enemies Abound on one of the chasmes. Deacon punches a demon slut to death. * Bahamut ascends, so that if movement speed isn't completely exhausted, the individual is pinned to his back for the rest of the turn. A new enemy also appears - a balor. * Barkley rushes forward, gaining more victims in Spirit Guardians. The chasme destroys the bat in a horrible display. Lucius one-hits a vrock - leaving only two remaining vrocks, a wounded chasme, a succubus, and the balor. The balor sizes up Vahlka, hitting her for a hefty amount of damage. Olivia re-casts Haste on Vahlka. Godfrey gets rid of some of the wounded enemies, clearing the path. Lucius kills one of the two remaining vrocks. The balor does a really bad job at hitting. Olivia shames a vrock to death, leaving only the balor left on the board. * Everyone throws their last attacks at the balor, ending with Barkley. She launches herself at the beast, driving her dagger deep into it. The demon crumbles underneath her, then promptly explodes - nearly killing Barkley and Olivia in the process, had they not succeeded their dexterity saving throws. Aftermath * The party clings to Bahamut's back as the demon swarm thins behind them, crawling back towards his head since it's the best vantage point and easier to hold on. * As they ascend to the sky of the Demonweb Pits, it almost looks like everyone is free. That is, until a shadow blocks their path. It's Lolth, blocking the path forward. She shrieks and descends. * Lolth's claws dig into Bahamut's shoulders, her jaws at the dragon's neck. The party nearly avoids getting caught in the crossfire, having to dig deep into his scales to avoid falling off. Bahamut is able to maneuver to Lolth's abdomen and bites into it. "I worked too hard for this, and too long!" she laments. * Lolth and Bahamut plummet from the sky and the party falls off into the sky. Lolth wrenches Bahamut's face back, and Bahamut is quick enough to catch the descending Arsonists with his tail. He disappears back into the spider's belly as she struggles against him, sending up scales and blood. * Bahamut temporarily frees himself from Lolth to ascend again, but Lolth catches herself on the webs and follows after. Lolth launches herself again at the great dragon, but this time he's ready to announce judgement. He holds the spider queen by her two front legs, summoning his breath weapon once more directly upon his adversary. * The shell of the spider peels back layers upon layers, eroding away until she's back onto the ground and there's nothing left except a small humanoid (?) shape and a small point of light. Bahamut grabs the light and ascends once more, finally, and starts to accelerate. * Light envelops the party - everyone feels weightless, hears a shattering sound, and are drowned in silence. * Narration Transcript * Time passes and everyone dreams, weightless and mostly at peace. The Arsonists awake in bed, dressed in simple clothing and their equipment neatly stacked nearby. * A figure sits on the balcony nearby, but everyone is briefly distracted with wondering if they'd actually pulled the rescue off. The figure is revealed to be the angel that the party rescued in Deephold, Tabbris. * Tabbris reveals that everyone has been asleep for 32 days, which obviously comes as a shock. Apparently when Bahamut moves large distances, he condenses his body into light. The time it took between then and the current moment was how long it took for their bodies to reconstitute from temporarily "dying" as a result of the travel. * Tabbris also reveals that they're all in Arborea, at the edge of the Holy Mountain. Apparently the Raven Queen denied them entry into Mount Celestia, being somewhat of a traditionalist. Bahamut had no problem with it, though. * Lucius asks where Bahamut is now, Tabbris says that he's talking to his peers (The Raven Queen, Correllon, and Pelor). Barkley asks if he's alright and it's confirmed that while still recovering, he's alright. Tabbris says that she's there because once everyone is awake, she is to send a message to him so that they can all talk. * Tabbris confirms that the pegasus also escaped the Deephold, and that she has something for Vahlka. She returns the glaive which has some improvements - THE HOLY AVENGER. * Olivia asks what has happened in the war in Tamvrien, Thunder Bay, and the dragons that fought in it. Tabbris says that the green dragon was wounded, fleeing back into the sea, and the red dragon was killed. Sirius is confirmed to be alive. * It is confirmed that SENDING IS FUNCTIONAL AGAIN, ''WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF BEING FREE FROM THE ABYSS. ''Everyone promptly bombards Dex with 92380234943 messages. * Tabbris says that she'll go fetch Bahamut but has absolutely no idea when that will be. However, everyone is free to stay at her place until they're ready to return back to the material plane. * Everyone continues to throw Sendings while also briefly discussing where they could go next. Trivia * Godfrey's powers are officially sponsored by Werther's Originals. * Total raw damage dealt: 4,309.